Iott denies declining Blade invitation

Republican Rich Iott, candidate for the 9th Congressional District, said his campaign did not decline to meet with The Blade’s editorial board to discuss an endorsement, contrary to a statement published in an Oct. 3 Blade editorial.

In its Oct. 3 editorial endorsing Iott’s opponent, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, The Blade said, “Mr. Iott’s campaign declined an invitation to meet with The Blade’s editorial board.” During a previously scheduled interview with Iott on Oct. 4, Iott told Toledo Free Press that he was unaware of any formal invitation to meet with The Blade’s editorial board. Iott said he had a brief e-mail exchange with a Blade staff member about a sit down and he asked him to contact his staff to set something up, but that the statement that his campaign declined an invitation was “not true.”

Iott said, “When I saw [The Blade editorial on Oct 3] the first thing I did was e-mail [Iott campaign consultant Fritz Wenzel] and [campaign worker Maggie Thurber] and ask them about it,” as he was unaware of any invitation.

Wenzel said no one had contacted the campaign about a formal sit down and described the situation as “bizarre.”

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